Frequently Asked Questions

For investment advisory services, yes. I hold a Series 65 license and I'm required by law to recommend what's actually in your best interest — not whatever pays the biggest commission. That's a legal standard, not a marketing slogan, and I don't earn a commission on the accounts I manage.

For investment advisory services, I'm an Investment Advisor Representative of AdvisorShare Wealth Management (ASWM), an SEC-registered investment advisory firm. Separately, I run Lifeguard Retirement Planning as my own independent insurance and planning practice. Those are two distinct things — see the Disclosures page for how each side is compensated.

It starts with a Discovery Call — I want to understand your full situation before I say a word about any product. From there we gather your actual numbers: income, expenses, risk tolerance, timeline, what keeps you up at night. Then I come back with a plan and specific recommendations. Most clients go through three to six meetings before anything moves. You'll know exactly where things stand at every step.

Retirement income planning, Social Security timing, Medicare and IRMAA decisions, asset protection, tax planning, and estate planning — with a strong focus on protecting principal rather than chasing returns. I hold the NSSA^™ and IRMAACP^™ certifications specifically because those two decisions (when to claim Social Security, how to avoid Medicare surcharges) are some of the most consequential and most commonly gotten wrong. Both are private certifications, not government credentials — see the Disclosures page for what each one actually involves.

Not alone, and I don't pretend to. No single advisor can be the expert on every topic — asset protection law, advanced estate tools, tax strategy, insurance underwriting. That's why I maintain relationships with attorneys, tax professionals, and a specialized case design team I can bring in when a situation calls for it, rather than trying to force your plan into whatever I happen to know best.

Yes — I offer a Risk Analyzer that scores how much risk your current portfolio is actually exposed to, which is often a different number than people expect. It's free and there's no obligation attached to using it. You'll find the link in the site navigation.

Take the least amount of risk necessary to reach your goals. That's it — that's the whole philosophy. I'm not trying to pick winning stocks or time the market. I'm trying to figure out what you actually need your money to do, then build toward that with as little unnecessary risk as possible.

This is one of the biggest risks in retirement planning, and it's different from the risk you took while you were still working. Losing a large chunk of your portfolio in year one of retirement hits differently than losing it at 45, because you can't wait it out while you're also drawing income from it. That's why I build income around a bucket approach — money you need soon stays safe, money you don't need for years stays invested and has time to recover.

Certain annuities include an Income Account Value — separate from the account's cash or walk-away value — that's used to calculate an income stream you're paid for as long as you live, regardless of how the market performs or how long that turns out to be. It's backed by the issuing insurance company's financial strength and claims-paying ability, and it typically comes with caps, fees, or surrender terms specific to that contract, so the details matter.

In many cases, they're not allowed to. Some broker-dealers restrict or outright prohibit their advisors from selling or even discussing FIAs — and advisors aren't always required to tell clients that restriction exists. I'm independent, which means I can recommend a wider range of tools based on what fits your situation rather than what my firm permits me to sell.

It's a mortgage acceleration approach built for homeowners who want to pay off their mortgage significantly faster and reduce total interest paid, without necessarily changing what they spend day to day. I run the numbers on your specific mortgage at no cost — it's a quick way to see whether it makes sense for your situation.

Most people build wealth through mutual funds and stocks in a brokerage account, 401(k), or IRA, and hope the market cooperates. That approach can work, but it also means your retirement timeline is at the mercy of whatever the market happens to be doing the year you need the money. I lean on principal-protected tools alongside market exposure so a bad few years doesn't derail a plan you spent decades building.

Most CPAs are focused on completing an accurate tax return for the year that already happened — that's their job, and they're good at it. What I do is look forward: structuring retirement plans, insurance, and legacy strategies proactively so there's less tax to report next year in the first place. The two roles work well together, and I'm glad to coordinate directly with your CPA.

It depends on more variables than a rule of thumb can capture — mainly whether you expect a higher or lower tax bracket in retirement, and whether you'd pay the conversion tax from the IRA itself or from other funds. As a general starting point, converting tends to make less sense if you'll be in the same or lower bracket later, and more sense if you expect a higher one. I run the actual numbers for your specific situation rather than guessing.

A 401(k) is a genuinely useful tool, but "put money in your 401(k)" is often the extent of the tax advice most people get, and it's only one tool among many. Depending on your situation — especially if you're a business owner — a profit sharing plan, defined benefit plan, cash balance plan, or 401(h) plan can allow for meaningfully larger tax-deductible contributions than a 401(k) alone.

Retirement Life is the term I use for a properly structured Indexed Universal Life insurance policy used as a wealth-building tool, rather than purely for a death benefit. It's one of the few tools that lets money grow tax-free and come out tax-free in retirement. When the underlying index is down for the year, the policy's cash value is credited a zero — not a loss — and when the index is up, the policy captures some or all of the gain depending on the specific product.

Having an attorney and a CPA doesn't automatically mean it is. The most common gap I see is people who have a will and assume that's the whole plan — it isn't. A complete plan typically includes a will, durable powers of attorney, a living trust, and, depending on the size of the estate, tools like an Irrevocable Life Insurance Trust or a Family Limited Partnership.

An FLP supplements your core estate documents — it doesn't replace your will or trust. Done correctly, it can reduce the taxable value of assets for gift and estate tax purposes and add a real layer of creditor protection. As a general guide, it's worth considering around a $1,000,000 estate and becomes a near-standard tool well above that.

It can, done well. Tools like Charitable Remainder Trusts and Charitable Gift Annuities let you support causes you care about while also generating potential income for yourself and real income, capital gains, or estate tax benefits — it doesn't have to be purely a gift with nothing coming back.

Most people think it's only about lawsuits. It's broader than that — it's structuring your finances so your wealth is shielded from every kind of creditor, including the ones people don't think about: the IRS, a bad stock market year, estate taxes, and long-term care costs. I look at all four, not just the lawsuit scenario.

It's less common than the horror stories suggest, but it does happen, and it doesn't require you to have done anything wrong — a lawsuit only requires an offended party willing to find a lawyer to take the case. A guest injured leaving your party, a slip-and-fall on your property, a minor accident. Even when you're clearly in the right, defending the claim can cost more than settling. The point isn't to make you anxious about everyday life — it's that a basic protection plan is inexpensive relative to the (rare, but real) cost of having none at all.

Yes. Professionals can be personally sued for actions taken in their profession, and that liability follows you regardless of whether you operate through a corporation, a P.C., or an LLC — those structures don't shield professional acts the way people assume they do.

With a C- or S-Corporation, a court can force you to liquidate your interest, transfer your shares to a creditor, or let a creditor vote your shares. A properly structured LLC or Family Limited Partnership works differently — a creditor is generally limited to what's called a charging order, which doesn't let them force a sale, force a distribution, or take your ownership interest directly.

It depends on your stage of life and goals. Term is often the right call for younger clients who need coverage but can't yet afford permanent insurance — coverage now beats no coverage while you save toward something better. For clients who can afford it, I generally prefer cash value policies, because they protect your family and can double as a supplemental retirement tool through tax-free growth and access.

It's the sale of an existing life insurance policy to a third party for more than its cash surrender value, when the original reason you bought the policy no longer applies — a spouse the policy was meant to protect has passed, a divorce occurred, or you simply can no longer afford the premiums and would rather have the cash now than surrender the policy for less.

More likely than most people plan for — a majority of people who reach 65 will need some form of long-term care at some point. The two reasons people skip planning for it are cost and a belief that it won't happen to them. In my experience, the people who do plan for it are usually the ones who watched someone close to them go through it without coverage.

Three main paths. Traditional LTC insurance offers the most coverage but is also the most expensive, with no refund if you never use it. Single-premium life insurance with an LTC rider pays out if you need care, or the premium can often be returned if you never do — with the money staying accessible either way. And a properly structured Retirement Life policy can include a chronic-illness rider as a byproduct of a policy you're already using to build wealth.

In some cases, yes — it depends on how the coverage is structured and, if you're a business owner, how it's paid for. This isn't a blanket yes for everyone, so it's worth a specific conversation about your situation rather than assuming either way.

It depends on the interest rate and what you'd otherwise do with the money. Generally, low-interest, deductible debt (like many mortgages) isn't automatically something to rush to pay off — if that same money could be put to work at a better net return elsewhere, keeping the mortgage can be the stronger move mathematically. High-interest, non-deductible debt like credit cards is the kind worth paying down first, before building wealth elsewhere.

Medicare's Annual Enrollment Period opens every October 15, but as a Medicare-qualified agent, I'm available for guidance year-round — and Medicare Supplement (Medigap) coverage specifically can be reviewed or enrolled in at any time of year, not just during Annual Enrollment.

Yes, in terms of what they cover. Medigap policies are standardized by federal and state law — every insurer offering a given letter (A through N) has to offer the same basic benefits. The real differences between carriers come down to price and service, which is exactly where an independent broker who compares multiple carriers can help.

Because I'm not limited to one carrier's plans. As an independent broker working with multiple A-rated carriers, I can compare options side by side and help you find competitive pricing for the plan type that fits your situation — rather than being restricted to whatever one company happens to offer.

Without planning, that's typically how it goes — a single person generally has to spend most of their countable assets down to a small remaining amount before qualifying for Medicaid assistance with nursing home care. With a proper Medicaid protection plan in place ahead of time, there are legal strategies to preserve significantly more of what you've built while still qualifying.

It's not limited to nursing homes. Depending on the state and the plan, Medicaid can also help cover home care or assisted living — which, with the right planning, can mean a higher quality of life than defaulting straight into nursing-home-only coverage.

Call, email, send a message through the contact form, or book a Discovery Call directly — whichever is easiest for you. There's no cost and no obligation to that first conversation. Some people come in with one specific question; others want to walk through their whole situation. Either way is a fine place to start.

No. The first conversation — and tools like the Risk Analyzer or a H.E.A.P.^™ mortgage review — are offered as free, no-obligation starting points, so you can see where you actually stand before deciding whether to move forward with anything.

For investment advisory services, I'm fee-based and don't earn a commission on the accounts I manage. When a recommendation is implemented through an insurance product like an annuity, the insurance company pays a commission out of its own revenue — never out of your account — and that's disclosed to you before you decide to move forward. Full detail, including the specific fee schedule, is on the Disclosures page.

In Morton, Illinois, serving clients throughout the Morton and Peoria area and central Illinois more broadly. Exact address and directions are on the Contact page.

You don't have to take my word for it — you can look up my registration and background directly through the SEC's Investment Adviser Public Disclosure database and FINRA BrokerCheck. Links to both, along with my CRD number, are on the Disclosures page.